Bavarian Sauerkraut

One of our favorite side dishes is hot sauerkraut, delicious served with pork or bockwurst – a mild German sausage. You can also make a sandwich with toasted or grilled dark rye bread, melted Jack, havarti, or Muenster cheese, the sauerkraut, and avocado.

Method

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Side note:
When first making this, I had never heard of "juniper berries". Berries from the juniper shrub, they are traditionally used with sauerkraut.

My late wife made sauerkraut as a vegetable dish for supper. I like sauerkraut very much but do not know how she made it so tasty. I just dump it out of the can and heat it. It lacks a heck of a lot of the taste that my wife made. Can you help me with some suggestions?

Try using fresh sauerkraut, sold in the jars in the refrigerated section of grocery stores. Much tastier. ~Elise

My mother used to made a really quite dreadful dinner of leftover cubed pork, sauerkraut and apples. I despised it but was forced to sit at the table until I had eaten it.
Yet I have read recipes that rave about sauerkraut. Can this relationship be saved? I have never had fresh sauerkraut and am afraid to make it. Would buying the “fresh” refrigerated sauerkraut really be “the best”? My mom used a can of kraut. Also, I think my Mom used apples from our trees, which may have been the wrong kind — they dissolved into little spit-balls of apple. The leftover pork from a Sunday pork roast may also be a culprit in this tale.
What suggestions do you have that may lead me to actually enjoying a sauerkraut recipe? Thank you very much!

Hi Patty, I suggest that you try a jar of “fresh” refrigerated sauerkraut and try it. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, you don’t. We love it. ~Elise

My family is German-American, so I grew up eating sauerkraut, though my grandpa always added lots of brown sugar to mitigate the vinegary-ness of canned/jarred varieties. Plus, it made the spare-ribs even more succulent!

So, even though I liked sauerkraut, when I finally traveled to Germany for the first time, I was surprised to discover that sauerkraut there tasted completely different and so much more delicious! It was decidedly un-“sauer,” with a mild but complex, faintly fruity flavor.

The difference, it turns out, is because in the U.S., sauerkraut came to be pickled in vinegar as it was easier and safer to mass produce it that way. (Botulism is inhibited by high-acidic environment.) But in Germany, sauerkraut is frequently still made the old-fashioned way, and the “sauer” results from allowing cabbage to ferment in it’s own juices and not from pickling cabbage in vinegar.

Still, in a pinch, this recipe is a great way to spruce up, and tone down the vinegar, of canned and even some jarred (I’m so used to buying certain brands, I haven’t noticed anything labeled “fresh” at my grocer, but now I will take a look) varieties of store-bought sauerkraut. And the juniper berries really do transport me back to Germany! Thank you!

P.S. While I have not tried my hand at making fermented sauerkraut from scratch, there are lots of food bloggers out there who have. Many have gotten great results, and shared their trials, tribulations, and techniques which ultimately worked.

Speaking to my Grandfather today (Swiss German). He told me his father used to make sauerkraut using juniper berries. He said “you can add caraway seeds, but then it would be a Bavarian version”. Idk if juniper berries are as “Bavarian”, I think they are more of a Swiss version. I could be very wrong though.

Juniper berries are the bavarian version. Don’t chop the onion, just peel it and cook it along for the taste. Remove before serving. The same goes for the berries, as you don’t want to eat them, they are just in for the taste (some people do eat them, though). Add lard as well unless you’re veggie, the fat makes it more tasty. The most important ingredient is missing though: time. It is essential to cook it at least the day before and leave it over night. Oxidation will make it darker and much more rich in flavor. And yes, I am bavarian.